'Do What I Say, Not What I Do' Is the Name of the Game at Trump's GOP Convention

The Grand Old Party is going through a tough time. It's desperately trying to bring everyone together on a set of core principles that no one can seem to agree on. Well, except one. Hypocrisy. See, that's the real theme of Donald Trump's Republican National Convention. It's been a week (hell, an entire GOP election cycle) of "do what I say, not what I do." And we've got proof. A whole lot of it.

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The opening days of the convention have treated the nation to all sorts of crazy moments (I'm talking to you, Rudy Giuliani). But what you see has little, if anything, to do with reality. This is the party of family values with a nominee who traded in two wives for mistresses. The party that screams "Blue Lives Matter!" -- but advocates for legal assault rifles in our neighborhoods.

If you really want to measure a person's, or a group's, set of values, watch what they actually do. And anyone who's been watching this week is hearing the Republican party espouse one set of ideals, and do something totally different. You know, the definition of hypocrisy.

Here are just a few of the most hypocritical moments of the 2016 Republican convention.

Pornography, with his harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the life of millions. We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being.

Donald Trump has used then-senator Hillary Clinton's vote for the Iraq war as proof-positive that her judgement is crap. Which was fine. Until he tapped Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate, who was one of the biggest cheerleaders on Capitol Hill of the Iraq war and also voted to invade. When asked by Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes about how he can forgive Pence's vote but not Hillary's, Trump replied, "He's entitled to make a mistake every once in a while."

LGBT advocates in the Republican party have called this year's GOP platform "the most anti-LGBT platform the Republican Party has ever had," according to The Hill. In addition to supporting "conversion therapy" for kids, it also defines being from a traditional, two-parent household as "best for children." It made LGBT Republicans furious.

Then, in a stunning display of insult, Donald Trump walked out of a cloud of smoke on stage to legendary gay icon and musical genius Freddy Mercury's song "We Are the Champions." Queen guitarist Brian May let the campaign know in no uncertain terms after that they didn't have permission to use the song and needed to stop. Immediately, if not sooner.

In two polls taken in the weeks leading up to the convention, Trump polled at zero-point-zero with black folks in swing states Ohio and Pennsylvania. So it's not surprising that black men, including Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who has openly rejected the Black Lives Matter movement, and GOP fave Dr. Ben Carson were given prime-time speaking slots this week.

As result of the Trump campaign, openly saying racist things in America now just means you're tired of being "politically correct."

The first night of the campaign, an evening of speeches painting America as a dangerous place where "they" are coming to get you, had the theme of "Make America Safe Again." The night crescendoed with Rudy Giulianni, who just days before chastised black mothers for not teaching their sons to respect cops, giving a screeching speech filled with doom and gloom with just the right amount of fear and hatred aimed at those who dare to question why police are killing so many black people.

Republicans cozying with the National Rifle Association have given America 31 "open-carry" states where it's legal to walk around your community brandishing an assault rifle. They tell us all these guns keep us and our children safe. They tell us that the best way to protect yourself from a bad guy with a gun is a "good guy" with a gun. Trump said Paris could have saved much of the carnage if only they had less strict gun laws and more people would have been packing that night in November at the Bataclan.

So if all of that's true, they why did cops ask to suspend Ohio's open-carry laws during the Republican convention in Cleveland? Why aren't guns allowed on the floor of the Republican convention? Sure, the arena is private property, and they can do what they want, but if guns are so safe, then a convention full of gun-toting people in funny hats should be the safest spot on the planet, right?

From making the Internet "family friendly" to "religious freedom" and its "defense of traditional marriage," the GOP wraps itself in messages of "family values." Which sounds nice, except when you take a look at some of the awful merch being sold and openly worn around the convention. It's some of the most disgusting, vulgar, sexist, and hateful stuff about Hillary Clinton you could possibly imagine. Her head photoshopped on dirty pictures, a T-shirt that reads "Hillary Sucks, But Not Like Monica," and a button that lists the "KFC Hillary Special" that apparenly includes "2 FAT THIGHS 2 SMALL BREASTS ... LEFT WING."

Apparently "family values" includes calling a grandmother's tits small on a campaign button. June Cleaver would be so proud!

Trump loves to call out "liars" -- so what about his own entourage?

Trump loves to call Hillary a liar, but there's been plenty of truth bending going on at the GOP convention, including the whopper of plagarism in Melania Trump's speech. There was clear, video evidence that entire passages of Michelle Obama's 2008 speech to the Democratic National Convention were blatantly copied and pasted into Melania's teleprompter, but that didn't stop Trump camapaign spokespeople, including top-dog Paul Manafort, from denying there was any "cribbing."

Yes, there was. So why lie?

CNN's Chris Cuomo couldn't get a straight answer either.

Chis Cuomo asked Paul Manafort on CNN, "But I can't move on because you keep lying about it, so I can't move on from it, because I have to talk about what is true."

Except that he clearly is lying. Why couldn't the campaign, anyone in the campaign, just admit the mistake that everyone knows it made (and which a campaign staffer eventually fessed up to)? It's pathalogical and really takes away from the argument that the Republicans are the honest alternative to lyin' Hillary.

Conservatism with a heapin' helpin' of hypocrisy is on the menu this week in Cleveland -- and Trump's folks keep serving it up. Stay tuned.